Today's criminal will become tomorrow's Islamic terrorist
By C.T. Rossi
web posted July 1, 2002
America is about to view a remake of a classic story. It's not a
multi-million-dollar Hollywood comic book-turned-movie
spectacle nor a modernized version of a long-favored stage
drama. Rather, America is discovering a 700-year-old stage for
herself - the story of the Janissaries.
The Janissaries were the elite fighting force of the Moslem
Ottoman Empire for centuries. Their ranks were filled with young
Christian men (who often converted to Islam) conscripted to
fight for the sultan. They became instrumental in holding together
the Ottoman Empire precisely because they were free from the
tribal loyalties that left other Moslem Arabs and Turks, at times,
conflicted. In today's parlance, we would merely call them
Moslem extremists.
While most reporters (and unfortunately the White House) look
at the John Walker Lindh and Jose Padilla stories as some type
of strange socio-religious anomaly, these instances are anything
but. The advent of Jihad Johnny and Abdullah al Muhajir
represent the revival of a proved weapon of radical Islam - the
Janissary warrior. And the recruitment has just begun.
The key element in the recruitment of the new Janissaries is to
seek out and evangelize those who are disaffected with Western
culture. In the case of John Walker Lindh, Islam provided a
young man with moral boundaries when his parents would (or
could) not. With Jose Padilla, the story was different. Padilla was
recruited to his new vocation as an Islamic terrorist after prison.
Time will show that Padilla was not alone.
Perhaps the foremost expert in prison evangelization in America
is Chuck Colson, co-founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries.
Colson is now warning that the Islam being preached is neither
"noble" nor "peaceful."
In the June 24 issue of the Wall Street Journal, Colson relates
the story of how, when addressing an open meeting of prisoners,
his use of the name Jesus was met with attempted censorship by
Moslem inmates who upon hearing the name would turn up the
volume on their portable radios. Not stopping there, Colson
states that the multi-faith gathering came within a hare's breath of
becoming a full-scale prison riot - his ability to quiet the Christian
prisoners being the pivotal factor.
Colson also made mention that Al Qaeda training manuals outline
plans whereby American inmates are targeted for conversion
because such individuals may be "disenchanted with their
country's policies." These "converts" are extremely useful to
terrorist groups as the inmates "combine a desire for 'payback'
with an ability to blend easily into American culture." This Islamic
prison outreach, as recommended by Al Qaeda, is taking place -
the most prominent ministry being the National Islamic Prison
Foundation. Colson also notes that a main funder of such
programs is none other than Saudi Arabia.
While the new American Janissaries, harvested from
penitentiaries, could prove eminently useful to terrorist groups in
waging a domestic terror campaign upon America, the
solicitation of Moslem acolytes is not limited to American jails -
nor even to America.
Islamic "missionaries" have also descended upon the volatile
Chiapas region of Mexico. Since 1996, more than 300
conversions amongst the Mayan people have been made.
According to the Houston Chronicle, the leader of the Islamic
group, Shaykh Abdalqadir as-Sufi, "has sharply condemned
democracy and global capitalism." The Chronicle also provided
a telling quote from Moslem missionary Esteban Lopez: "There
isn't a pure Islamic government in the world. That's what we
hope to create."
All of these patterns lead us to serious questions that need to be
asked.
Many Moslems have traditionally been critical (if not paranoid)
of the proselytizing nature of Christianity. Such skepticism about
the honorable intentions of Christianity led to the imprisonment of
Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer in Afghanistan for their overt
religious discussions with Afghani locals. It is also the attitude
that makes it illegal to wear the religious garb of a faith other than
Islam in Saudi Arabia. But now Moslem missionaries seem to be
turning up in the oddest places, places that are violent and
unstable, places where the people might harbor animosity toward
American society, places recommended in Al Qaeda's grand
strategy. Saudi money also seems to be in play.
Are we prepared to ask the hard questions? Probably not.
And so the conscription of the new Janissaries continues. Under
the guise (and legal protection) of a noble religion, the forces of
radical Islam recruit disciples, for whom there is only one
prerequisite - a hatred of America. All this is an old tale . . . but
now it's coming to a theater near you.
C.T. Rossi comments on contemporary culture for the Free
Congress Foundation (http://www.freecongress.org).
Enter Stage Right - http://www.enterstageright.com